The Luck of the Irish
by TisTheEast
Summary: Beauty is in the eye of beholder.


*Title: The Luck of the Irish  
  
*Author: Juliet (pandora1251@yahoo.com)  
  
*Rating: a wholesome PG unless maggots offend you ;)  
  
*Category: humor/romance (GCR of course)  
  
*Disclaimer: not mine, never will be, yada yada yada  
  
*Author's Notes: This is a response to a challenge on The Graveyard Shift (my Gris and Cath yahoo group). The criteria were as follows: 1. Must in some way involve Catherine and Grissom (duh)  
  
2. Must contain the line 'Gag me with a Maggot'  
  
3. May be of any length from drabble to long epic, I don't care which.  
  
4. Must contain some manipulation of the line, "Since when have you cared about beauty." "Since I met you." into something g/c related. Other manipulations of g/s lines into g/c lines are also welcome.  
  
5. Fic may be of any rating, make it as raunchy or as clean as you like.  
  
6. References to various alcoholic drinks/ and or the drinking habits of our favorite CSI's, are required.  
  
7. Unlimited amount of time.  
  
8. And just have fun! On a related note, my expertise on the mating habits of flies is not exactly the greatest so bare with me (you'll understand why when you read)  
  
*Thank-you's: Gabe--you know why ;) Joe--for being a great friend. Laeta- for getting the ball rolling by writing the first "Gag me with a maggot" piece. Allison-for making the challenge official. The entire group over at the Graveyard Shift-you guys are so great.I want to thank whichever one of us first said "Gag me with a maggot" though I can't remember for the life of me who it was.oh well, you're all wonderful!  
  
**If you're interested in joining the Graveyard Shift, feel free to email me. We're always looking for more fun people to join our ranks  
  
  
  
  
  
"The pupation rate of the fruit fly depends on several conditions including temperature, climate, and moisture level," the television narrator droned on.  
  
"Well that does it for me," Nick said getting up from the small table in the break room.  
  
"Yeah I think I'll, uh, join you there buddy," Warrick said inching towards the door.  
  
Even Sara, who'd been trying to pay attention to the television, was beginning to squirm in her seat as the hatching process of the fruit fly was graphically depicted on the screen.  
  
Grissom, on the other hand, was totally enraptured with the scene taking place on the screen. What seemed like the slowest crime night of the year was finally winding down, and to his joy, it had been right when the Discovery channel reran their documentary on the mating habits of various flies. Of course, it was not easy convincing the rest of the group that this was quality programming; in fact the only reason Grissom was able to watch the insect special was that he'd managed to grab the remote while Nick, Warrick, and Sara debated MTV verses VH1 and Catherine had been distracted making popcorn. "My God," Catherine said catching a glance of the TV as she opened a bag of microwave popcorn. Staring at the screen, she shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth.  
  
"How can you eat with that on?" Sara exclaimed as an image of newly hatched maggots devouring a dead cow lit up the screen.  
  
"It's kind of like a train wreck," Catherine said plopping down on the small couch next to Grissom.  
  
"Deadly, yet beautiful," Grissom finished for her.  
  
"I was going to say so terrible you can't help but watch," Catherine quipped handing Grissom the bag of popcorn. "But I suppose deadly and beautiful would do in a pinch."  
  
"You two certainly have an odd definition of beauty," Warrick muttered trying to find an excuse to change the channel.  
  
"Since when have you cared about beauty Grissom?" Sara asked trying to change the topic of conversation to something other than fly larva. "And since when have you found insects beautiful Catherine?"  
  
"Beauty's in the eyes of the beholder Sara," Catherine said, her blue eyes sparkling.  
  
Suddenly Greg burst into the break room wearing a bright green lephrechaun hat. "Aye lads and lassies, will ye be joining me for the traditional brew of St. Paddy's day?" he exclaimed in a bad high-pitched Irish accent.  
  
"Greg, it's 6 am and you're Polish," Sara said as Greg scampered around the room giving each member of the team a brightly color shamrock sticker.  
  
"But everyone's Irish on St. Paddy's day lassie," Greg said giving her a smile.  
  
"Doesn't that hurt your throat?" Grissom asked giving Greg the fatherly look he'd come to expect from his boss.  
  
"Yeah it actually does," Greg said returning his voice to normal. "So who's up for some green beer at Flannigans after the shift?"  
  
"I'm in," Nick and Warrick said almost in unison.  
  
"Sure why not," Sara said smiling.  
  
"What about you Catherine?" Greg asked. "You like green beer right?"  
  
"Green beer? Gag me with a maggot," Catherine said wrinkling her nose.  
  
"Boss?" Greg asked Grissom who was chuckling over Catherine's comment.  
  
"Uh, I'll pass," Grissom replied.  
  
"Alright but you two are going to miss out on all the fun," Greg said tipping his hat to the two older CSI's. With that, he and the others exited the break room leaving Grissom and Catherine alone.  
  
"So Catherine, any big plans for St. Patrick's Day?" Grissom asked.  
  
"Not really. Lindsey wanted to make shamrock cookies so we'll probably do that when she gets home from school," Catherine replied getting up from the couch.  
  
"Why don't you give her this," Grissom said examining the sticker that Greg had handed him only a few minutes before. It had a dopey looking leprachuan on it and bared the slogan, "The Luck of the Irish" in big green letters.  
  
"The luck of the Irish," Catherine said softly reading the sticker.  
  
"What did yours say?" Grissom asked realizing that the rest of the team had left them all alone.  
  
"Kiss me, I'm Irish," Catherine proclaimed holding the sticker up, a teasing smile on her face.  
  
"Alright," Grissom said simply.  
  
"Alright what?" Catherine asked putting the stickers in her pocket. And with that Grissom leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.  
  
From outside the break room a cheer erupted.  
  
"I knew it would work! You didn't believe me, but I knew it would work," Greg said dancing around the hallway ignoring a confused look from Ecklie.  
  
"Who knew it would take St. Patrick's Day stickers to get those two together?" Nick wondered aloud.  
  
"I did!" Greg said. "Now you owe me some green beer my friend.to the Pub!"  
  
THE END (alright I know this was on the silly side for me, but I had a ton of fun writing this so it's all good) 


End file.
